1748 — Mid-Aug to mid- Oct, Yellow Fever outbreak, Charleston, SC — >33

—>33  Blanchard estimate based on Lining description of those most susceptible to fatal attack.[1]

 

Lining. A Description of the American Yellow Fever…at Charleston…in the Year 1748. 1799.

—>3  “almost all the nurses…” (p. 6.)

—>3  “country-people when they came to town…” (p. 6.)

—>3  Indians (Native Americans). (p. 7.)

—>3  “Mulatoes” (mixed black and white heritage). (p. 7.)

—>3  “those who lay in small chambers not conveniently situated for…fresh air…” (p. 25.)

—>3  “those of an athletic and full habit…” (p. 25.)

—>3  “strangers who were natives of a cold climate…” (p. 25.)

—>3  “those who had the greatest dread of it…” (p. 25).

—>3  “those, who…had overheated themselves by exercise in the sun…” (p. 26.)

—>3  “those who…by excessive drinking of strong liquors…” (p. 26.)

—>3  “those who had been weakened by any previous disease…” (p. 26.)

 

Narrative Information

 

Duffy: “Outbreaks of yellow fever were reported in Charleston in 1745 and 1748, but letters from the S.P.G.[2] missionaries indicate the continued presence of the disease for three successive summers….The series of epidemic fevers beginning in 1745 culminated in a severe attack of yellow fever in 1748.” (Duffy. Epidemics in Colonial America. 1953, reprinted 1979, p. 159.)

 

Lining: “…that this is really an infectious disease, seems plain…almost all the nurses catched it and died of it; but likewise, as soon as it appeared in town, it soon invaded newcomers, those who never had the disease before, and country-people when they came to town, while those who remained in the country escaped it, as likewise did those who had formerly felt its dire effects, though they walked about the town, visited the sick…and attended the funeral of those who died of it. And lastly, whenever the disease appeared here, it was easily traced to some person who had lately arrived from some of the West-Indian Islands [Caribbean], where it was epidemical. Although the infection was spread with great celerity through the town, yet if any from the country received it in town, and sickened on their return home, the infection spread no further, not even so much as to one in the same house.

 

“The subjects which were susceptible of this fever, were both sexes of the white colour, especially strangers lately arrived from cold climates, Indians…Mulatoes of all ages, excepting young children and of those only such as had formerly escaped the infection….

 

“This fever began in the middle or rather towards the end of August, and continued till near the middle of October, when the weather became cold enough to prevents its further progress. In the beginning of August, the weather was warmer than I had ever known it in that month…. [p. 6-8]

 

“….The disease was generally more fatal to those who lay in small chambers not conveniently situated for the admission of fresh air, to those of an athletic and full habit, to strangers who were natives of a cold climate, to those who had the greatest dread of it, and to those, who, before the attack of the disease, had overheated themselves by exercise in the sun, or by excessive drinking of strong liquors; either of which seemed to render the body more susceptible of the infection. Lastly, the disease proved most certainly fatal to valetudinarians, or to those who had been weakened by any previous disease…. [pp. 25-26] (Lining, John. A Description of the American Yellow Fever, Which Prevailed at Charleston, in South Carolina, in the Year 1748. 1799.)

 

Ramsay: “In 1745 and 1748 it [yellow fever] returned, but with less violence [than 1732 and 1739];[3] however, many young people, mostly Europeans, died of it.” (Ramsay. Ramsay’s History of South Carolina. 1858, p. 47.)

 

Sources

 

Duffy, John. Epidemics in Colonial America. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1953, reprinted 1979.

 

Lining, John, MD. A Description of the American Yellow Fever, Which Prevailed at Charleston, in South Carolina, in the Year 1748. Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson, 1799. Accessed 4-4-2018 at: https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/catalog/nlm:nlmuid-2561035R-bk

 

Ramsay, David (M.D.). Ramsay’s History of South Carolina, From its First Settlement in 1670 to the Year 1808. Published by W. J. Duffie, Newberry, SC, printed in Charleston by Walker, Evans & Co., 1858. Digitized by archive.org and accessed 9-11-2016 at: https://archive.org/stream/ramsayshistorys00ramsgoog#page/n4/mode/2up

 

[1] Though Lining produced a 30-page document on the outbreak he did not provide a fatality estimate. He did, though, note a eleven categories of people where “The disease was generally more fatal…” We have assumed at least (>) three deaths for each category to derive an estimate of at least 33.

[2] Society for the Propagation of the Gospel.

[3] In 1732 there were 13-150 yellow fever deaths in Charleston, and in 1739 we estimate dozens.